Welcome to the chamber blog!

It’s August! This is a big month for moving – primarily for college students, but also for people changing apartments or getting settled into new houses before school starts. Moving can be a chaotic and stressful time, and if you can reduce the stress for yourself and the environment, that’s a win-win!​

Pack it in! When using a rental truck to move all of that stuff, pack it to capacity. Have more space than you’re going to use? Find a buddy and team up. By splitting a big box truck you can save your own money on rental rates and gas, as well as reduce your carbon footprint. And as anybody who has ever packed a truck can tell you, the more stuff in there, the safer it is. Boxes can’t fall over if they’re packed in tight! Using your own vehicle to move? Same theory, different scale. You’d be amazed how much more stuff you can put in a car after you deem it “full.” (But make sure you leave some space to see out the rear view.)

When packing breakables, instead of paper or plastic wrap you buy for that purpose (or paper towels like my mom used to do) use your already soft belongings as cushion. Slip glasses into tube socks. Put washcloths between plates. Wrap vases in t-shirts. If you do use paper, use old newspapers or something that would otherwise wind up in the recycle bin – and then put it there after you unpack!

Don’t buy brand new moving boxes! Borrow from friends, or scavenge from your local liquor or grocery store. (A friend of mine who used to work at a pizza shop swore by the boxes that cheese was delivered in. Since cheese is heavy the boxes are smallish but incredibly strong and perfect for heavy stuff like books.) Have time to plan ahead? Start hoarding all of those StitchFix and Amazon Prime boxes that come right to your front door. And why stick to boxes? Use grocery or tote bags for light items.

Speaking of recycling… don’t throw out any unwanted furniture or housewares. Just because something is “old” or you don’t like it anymore doesn’t mean it has no value. Don’t let that stuff wind up in the landfill. Have a tag sale or donate items to a charity that can use them. And don’t forget the power of social media – post giveaways on sites like Craigslist, Facebook, Letgo, Offerup, and Declutter. There are even organizations (like Arc’s Value Village) that will come pick things up! ​

When all of your stuff is moved out and the “I gotta get my deposit back so this place needs to look good” cleaning is the only thing left on your to-do list, use green cleaning supplies. The environment and your nose will thank you. By now, your trash bin is probably very full, so use reusable towels and wash them later at your new place.

And the greenest thing you can do while moving… is not to move at all. Ask yourself – do I REALLY need to move? Or are there ways to refresh or reconfigure your current space to get more out of where you live now? Sometimes saving the money, time and stress of moving can be well worth the effort it takes to change up what you currently have – and can be a big help to your carbon footprint too.

Minnesota has a long tradition of civic engagement. Minnesotans have long cared for and about our communities, and about the improvement of our state as a whole. That’s a big part of why we are consistently the state with the highest rates of voter participation. Indeed, Minnesota had dropped a couple of slots from the top of the list, but we returned in 2016 to #1 in the nation. As business owners, you know what it means to play an active role in improving our community. This election year, I am asking you to help Minnesotans by participating in our nonpartisan voter participation efforts to share information about voting with your employees and customers.

In the business toolkit that my office created for Minnesota employers, we have provided customized messages to help remind your employees and customers about important dates on the calendar: National Voter Registration Day; Early Voting dates; Voter pre-registration deadlines; and Election Day. We hope that you will share this material on your digital channels and in your brick and mortar locations to remind all Minnesotans about these important election-year dates.

Minnesotans can always go to mnvotes.org for more information about voting eligibility, to check their registration status, request a vote-from-home absentee ballot, or find your early or Election Day polling place.

The Office of the Secretary of State is proud to work in partnership with the Saint Paul Area Chamber of Commerce and all of its member organizations. The work you do every day in service to your community is at the heart of what makes Minnesota such a great place to live, work, and vote.

This election year, be a voter.​Minnesota Secretary of State Steve Simon

The Citizens League Minimum Wage Study Committee met on Thursday, July 26, 2018, at the University of St. Thomas. Check out last’s week recap on the eleventh meeting here if you missed it.

This week’s meeting started with the introduction of Dr. Eric LaMott, Provost and Chief Operating Officer of Concordia University, Saint Paul. Eric joins the committee on behalf of Minnesota Private Colleges, in place of the late Doug Hennes.

Eric introduced himself and shared the perspective of Minnesota Private Colleges: overall, they are not opposed to $15 minimum wage. Only student workers earn below $15/hour currently. He did express concern that raising $15 for those students would come with some possible tradeoffs: reducing the amount of hours students work, reducing the amount of students who are permitted to work on campus, or possibly increasing tuition. Ultimately, the current model for student workers would need to be reformed in order to accommodate this increase in wages.

Looking back at last week’s meeting, it was notably the highest rated meeting amongst committee members. The committee felt that it prepared them well to begin the recommendation process, which began this meeting.

Thomas Durfee’s research update spoke to the purchasing power of minimum wage and unemployment. The data he presented showed value of minimum wage over time, i.e. the value of minimum wage with respect to inflation and cost of living. Next, Durfee gave an overview on the labor force and unemployment in Saint Paul over time. With this information, he was able to present who is filing for unemployment in Saint Paul, and give an idea of where the vacancies lie within industry sectors. Click here for this week’s research update from Thomas Durfee.

Next, Snowden Stieber presented on minimum wage enforcement strategies. This overview confirmed how challenging establishment of an enforcement agency will be. Things to consider include the need for training and education, the wage worker to enforcement agent ratio, as well as funding – for fines alone generated in agencies currently in operation across the country do not generate enough revenue to support them. Committee members discussed the importance of education and outreach in any enforcement strategy. Click here to check out Snowden’s update.

In preparation for the development of recommendations, the committee looked back to a survey filled out at the beginning of the panel process. The answers, provided by the panelists themselves, identified priorities each of them brought into this work. Of the answers shared, general themes included equity, opportunities for the low-wage worker, as well as protection for the employer base so important to our economy.

One committee member voiced a concern often mentioned throughout this work: that, whatever route is taken, there will be negative consequences for some people. Also, keeping in mind that the bigger problem of poverty itself requires multiple solutions - it is impossible for minimum wage to be the only answer.

As the meeting progressed, committee members began discussing the Minneapolis ordinance as a place to start. As a group, they shared likes and dislikes, issues they would consider replicating or improving. Sometimes the same aspect of the Minneapolis ordinance was supported by some panelists while strongly opposed by others. Some panelists appreciate its simplicity, its use of ‘headcount’ in considering firm sizes, the phase-in time, exemptions for disabled workers, indexing, the youth wage, and the training period.

The dislikes were much more specific, sometimes diametrically opposed to what others liked about the ordinance, and a little more challenging to categorize. But amongst these dislikes were the “great number” of exemptions, its failure to address tip credit, the definition of firm size not aligning with the state’s definition, a slowly moving phase-in time, failure to consider adjustments for small businesses, multiple wage adjustments in one fiscal year, failure to address federal contracts, underestimation of enforcement needs and unintended consequences of the negative impact to employers.

Moving forward, panelists are feeling the pressure of only 2 meetings left. They will be drafting recommendation ideas to discuss and spending a great deal of time in discussion of options.